– Tieline Codecs Are
The First to Combine Programming, Live Callers and a
Range of IFB Options Over POTS, ISDN and Wireless Networks
St. Louis - (July 26, 2006) - Oh, the dreaded early
morning phone call. –
Chief engineers everywhere know it and hate it, but
Tieline Technology has found a way a way to give your
audio folks a little more sleep in the morning, even
on the day of a live remote. And while they are hitting
the snooze button they can rest assured that their wireless
IP remotes are able to utilize the latest in 3G broadband
cellular technology.
Clear Channel St. Louis Chief Engineer Christian Vang
found out first hand when he gave the Tieline Technology
G3 field and studio codecs a baptism by fire by sending
them out on a live remote by the popular Majic 104.9
(KMJM-FM) Tony Scott and the New Breakfast Crew.
The verdict on the Tieline codec was summed by best
by the morning show's own audio tech Bill Smith: "Christian,
this is cool! I didn't have to call anybody to get this
working."
Smith and Vang are busy men as each Thursday Scott,
a morning personality legend in STL or "The Lou", takes
his show into the community and broadcasts live from
an area non-profit operation. During the show he will
have local businessman on-air to talk about their enterprises.
Vang and Smith had been using codecs from other companies
and the results had not satisfied them.
“We had yet to have a successful remote with
the other gear,” said Vang.
Enter the Commander G3, the first codec to combine
programming, live callers and a range of IFB options
over IP, POTS, ISDN and wireless networks. The Commander
G3 can take advantage of 3G enabled cell phones and
deliver FM-quality mono and stereo audio for remote
broadcasts and this was the method that Vang and Smith
used.
On this particular morning the road show
was at the YWCA Head Start program in Kirkwood. Smith,
affectionately called “Shoe”, was out at
the site at 4 a.m. setting up for the four-hour broadcast
which would start at 5 a.m. Vang, on purpose, decided
to let Smith see what he could do with the codec by
himself.
“I lingered on purpose and arrived at 4:45,”
said Vang. “He already had it dialed up and had
it connected. The first he said to me was ‘Christian
this is cool! I didn’t have to call anybody.’
That is huge for us.”
The remote was done with Vang’s Verizon wireless
card plugged into a router.
“It worked phenomenally. I really liked it a
lot,” said Vang.
“The nice thing for the remote tech is that the
unit had a front panel display and you can see the quality
of your connection,” said Vang.
The front panel display is key for Vang as that means
the codec, unlike others they have used, doesn’t
have to be hooked up to a laptop.
“I can’t expect to send a laptop out with
a codec every time we do a remote,” said Vang.
The Commander G3 set-up and connected with ease, but
what about the audio quality? Vang did the easiest test
possible … he walked out to his car during the
show.
“The audio quality was excellent,” said
Vang.
In fact the audio quality was so good that Vang and
Smith noticed something they hadn’t ever heard
while doing remotes with other gear – they could
hear room noise.
“It was very nice to have a codec that was not
garbling up the audio. The remote with the Commander
G3 sounded very natural with good clarity. It even sounded
great on HD,” said Vang.
For Vang and Smith, this came from a history where
remotes equaled sketchy audio quality or as Vang said
with laugh “this codec just didn’t sound
like Hell on the air!”
Even with hit or miss IP service in the St. Louis,
Vang prefers to get his remotes up and running over
the ‘Net because “the sound is so much better.”
Even though experience has taught audio engineers that
every IP thing you do is going to have some glitchy
moments, the back-up gear on June 1, brought along in
case the Tieline’s faltered, sat unused in their
cases.
Smith summed it up by telling Vang: “This thing
is just so easy, it is not like any other IP codec we
tried.”
For Vang, it was nice to just not get an early-morning
call the day of a remote.
“When it’s 4 a.m., I really don’t
want a phone call,” said Vang with a laugh.
About Audio over IP
The audio over IP capability allows stations to connect
reliably over the Internet and deliver FM-quality mono
and stereo audio for remote broadcasts.
“Audio over IP is the next big remote broadcast
revolution,” said Tieline American General Manager
Kevin Webb. “The Internet is much cheaper and
a more readily available network than traditional broadcasting
mediums such as ISDN and digitial-leased lines.”
The new IP software has been integrated into the Tieline
Commander G3 field codec and the i-Mix G3 codec. Broadcasters
can even go wireless over 802.11 wi-fi and wi-max wireless
networks.
“If the venue or remote broadcast has a DHCP
LAN which can access a broadband Internet service, then
all you need to do is connect the codec to the LAN port,
dial the studio and you’re on the air. It’s
that simple,” said Webb. “Even if the venue
does not have a corporate LAN, many of the latest DSL
routers have the ability to assign an IP address to
equipment and you can attach the codec to a LAN port
on the DSL router.”
Tieline is the first company to offer in one codec
multiple connections over multiple networks with POTS,
ISDN, GSM and the new wired and wireless IP options.
“Broadcasters can now plug into a network wherever
they are and deliver broadcast-quality audio back to
the studio in near real time,” said Webb. “The
best news is that broadcasters do not have to buy any
new equipment as the Commander G3 and i-Mix G3 codecs
were designed for easy upgrades such as the addition
of the audio of IP functions.”
About Commander G3
Tieline Commander G3 field and studio rack mount codecs
are first to offer broadcasters a choice of high quality,
low delay live audio and data transfer over POTS analog
telephone lines, ISDN, GSM wireless and IP networks.
Commander G3 codecs can be configured before you send
it to the remote broadcast site so all the talent has
to know is how to plug in power, a telco line, an audio
input and then dial a number. Commander G3 is the first
codec to feature two expansion slots which accept your
choice of hardware and software modules.
About i-Mix G3
The i-Mix G3 is the world’s most advanced radio
and television codec, commentary, communications and
control interface feature audio over POTS, ISDN, GSM
and IP. The i-Mix G3 combines six essential live remote
broadcast products into one box weighing just four pounds.
Designed live event broadcasting specialists, the i-Mix
G3 is a talk show, sports, music and live event dream
machine. The i-Mix G3 offers broadcasters 15kHz mono/stereo
over ISDN and POTS plus up to 14kHz over GSM and 20kHz
uncompressed stereo over IP networks.
About Tieline Technology
Tieline Technology (www.tieline.com)
is the world’s leading supplier of high-quality
remote broadcast digital audio codecs. In fact, the
company derives its name from the popularity of its
award-winning codec line as the company changed its
corporate moniker in 2001 from Audio Video Communications
(AVC) to Tieline Technology. The switch to Tieline from
AVC was just another positive step for a company that
has enjoyed a sterling reputation among its customers
since its founding in 25 years ago in Australia. Tieline
Technology today is supported by a global distribution
network spanning the Americas, Europe, UK, Africa, Asia,
Middle East and Australasia.
Tieline Technology, Tieline Technology logo, Commander
G3, i-Mix G3 are trademarks of Tieline Technology. Other
trademarks may be property of their respective owners.
